David C Becht Passes Away at the Age of 81

At 81 years, David C Becht sadly passed away. He had been an influential leader in the oil refining industry.

Throughout his career, he managed plant engineering, business development, operations and refinery maintenance/turnaround on a site level.

His vast expertise makes him an invaluable asset to the company, providing him with a solid platform to assist clients with turnaround readiness reviews, scope optimizations, peer reviews and critical path reviews.

Early Life and Education

David Becht was born on August 13, 1939 in Cincinnati, Ohio to Willard Nicholas and Alta Lillian (Campbell) Becht. A proud alumnus of Owensville High School, he went on to a successful business career that included 21 years specializing in kitchen cabinetry before retiring and taking up woodworking as his new passion. Additionally, David managed to make headlines twice; his obituary appeared recently in The Indianapolis Star.

He was the focus of a high-profile police investigation in which he was accused of 24 felony counts of child molestation. After an extended trial, however, he was declared innocent on Tuesday – thank goodness he didn’t spend too long behind bars! Regardless, his character and demeanor will be missed by family and friends alike.

Professional Career

David has an impressive professional background in engineering, reliability and maintenance services. His experiences range from plant engineering and project management at multiple refineries and petrochemical plants to site operations at these facilities.

He is an expert in corrosion, mechanical integrity and fitness for service (FFS) assessment, design and analysis of piping systems and equipment. He has performed elastic-plastic FEA, linear and nonlinear buckling analysis, transient heat transfer, steady state/fluid surge stress analyses, fatigue assessments, crack mechanics evaluations as well as flexibility evaluations.

He is a certified engineer in both the United States and Canada with over 30 years of experience in power generation and utility plants, such as advanced combined cycle, cogeneration, and simple cycle plants. Additionally, he provides technical assessments, project development/feasibility studies, efficiency improvement initiatives and renewable generation studies.

Achievement and Honors

David is an experienced senior engineer with more than three decades of expertise in the oil and gas sector. His diverse background gives him a valuable perspective on process interactions and equipment reliability issues.

His expertise includes managing Becht’s corrosion control document (CCD)/integrity operating window (IOW) implementation team and applying advanced finite element methods to simulate process equipment behavior.

He is an active participant in peer-reviewed publications and has authored numerous technical papers, presentations and tutorials at ASME and API conferences.

He currently serves as Director of Operations for Becht in Europe, Middle-East and Africa. In this role he is accountable for identifying business opportunities and complex client needs framing, developing holistic solution proposals, selling through negotiation, managing teams and delivering projects; furthermore he must build a strong local talent pool to sustain Becht’s ambitious expansion plans.

Personal Life

EVANSVILLE, Indiana — A man from Canyon Lake, Texas is accused of sexually abusing multiple juveniles in Vanderburgh County. He was arrested Monday and lodged in the county jail, according to court records.

David Willard Becht Jr., 61, was arrested for 24 counts of child molestation – level 1 felonies. He is being held on a $500,000 cash bond as bail.

He was the son of Willard Nicholas & Alta Lillian (Campbell) Becht and survived by his wife Latona Pearle Becht; children David Willard Becht Jr. of Evansville, Indiana; Randall Lee Becht of Haubstadt, Indiana; Terrence Allen Becht of Canyon Lake, Texas; grandchildren Whitney Ross & husband Logan; David Nicholas Becht & wife Constanza; Heather Becht; Justine Mayer & husband Steven; Jasmine Schuster & husband Skip; Randall Grant Becht; John David Becht; Kayla Anne Becht; great-grandchildren Thatcher Becht Archer Becht Braxton Becht Jennifer Mayer William Reynold Mayer as well as numerous nieces and nephews.

Net Worth

David Becht’s net worth is believed to be at least $12 million. As director of Coty Inc, he owns approximately 1,019,186 shares of that company’s stock.

Former United States Army Ranger now acts as a philanthropist, donating his vast resources to charities.

He is an ardent football enthusiast and frequently attends Manchester United matches with his wife Latona.

He has a number of children and grandchildren, including David Willard Becht Jr. & wife Debra from Evansville, Indiana; Randall Lee Becht & wife Karen of Haubstadt, Indiana; Terrence Allen Becht & wife Karen of Canyon Lake, Texas; as well as many great-grandchildren.